Story+1985-09-18+Oakland,+CA

´´Yeah, this is uh....this is about....falling through the, uh....what do you call it, safety net (chuckles)....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Johnny 99´**

´´We were down in Texas...on the first part of our American tour....and down in Houston, you´d see a lot of folks....that come down from up in the Northeast....out of Pittsburg, the Monongahela Valley...out of Gary, Indiana, Youngstown, out of Ohio...they all headed south to find work in the oil fields or in the oil rigs....they going down there with their wives and their kids and when they got down there, the price of oil dropped....they were no jobs, no place to go....they´d end up sleeping in tents out on side of the highway....or in backseat of their cars....being told to just move along...this is called ´Seeds´....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Seeds´**

´´Hey, how you doing out ? (cheers)....(?)(chuckles)....oh....this is, uh....when I always.... when I come back to San Francisco, it´s always, uh....it´s always kind of old home because my folks live out here....it´s funny ´cause when I was young, me and my Pop used to always go at it a little bit....I can remember he used to lock up the frontdoor so I used to have to come in around the side, he could always tell what time I was coming in....and he´d sit there in the kitchen with all the lights out....smoking a cigarette, and I used to have, uh, I used to have real long hair, like down to my shoulders, I was 17 (chuckles)....and uh, he used to hate it, used to hate it, we used to fight about it all the time....but I´d stand there in the driveway and I´d look in through the screen and I could see him sitting there....and I remember I´d tuck my hair all down to my collar as far as it´d go, pull my collar up, get my nerve up...get up on the porch and get through the screen door, he wouldn´t say nothing....I´d get into the livingroom where my mom´d always be, uh....asleep in front of the TV at night....with those pink curlers in her hair (chuckles)....I´d get my foot on that bottom step, ´bout to get upstairs and from the kitchen I´d always hear ´Bruuce´ (chuckles)....he let me think that I´d just about made it....and I´d go back and I´d sit down....and sometimes we´d just sit there....and uh, wouldn´t say anything to each other for a while....then he´d always ask me the same question ....he wanted to know....what I thought I was doing with myself....and uh....the worst part about it was I was never able to explain it to him (chuckles)....it was like that old song used to say, trying to tell a stranger about rock´n´roll....but uh, I guess I couldn´t figure out what he was doing with himself either....and it wasn´t till I got quite a bit older that I understood ....that what his life was like....how was he expected to understand what mine was like, I didn´t know what was going on with him....how it was hard trying to raise a family and find work all the time....and how when you get into a position where you´ve done everything you´re supposed to do and it´s still not working....what do you do then ?....and like we, uh, we just came down from....from Pittsburg, in the Monongahela Valley they got....they went from 22,000 steelworker jobs down to 3,000 in less than five years....and there´s a lot of people standing there feeling like...the America that they believed in has sailed away from them and left them standing there on the dock....and uh.....when your community begins to crumble....and your family begins crumbling, you end up living in the shadow of a dream..... and that´s what this song is about....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ‘The River’**

´´This next song, uh....this is about, uh....this is uh...is there anybody out there like with a new boyfriend or a new girlfriend ? (some cheers)....anybody out there married (cheers) (chuckles)....this is about love, is anybody out there in love tonight ? (cheers)....this is how like, you know when you first meet somebody, everything is great all the time and you´re always taking that extra time to get dressed just right before you go over and see ´em and uh ....everything they say is brilliant, you know, no matter what it is, you´re interested and uh.... if you´re gonna go out to the movies, it´s like ´Oh honey, uh, what movie would you like to go see ?´ ´Oh baby, I don´t care, anything you wanna go see´....´I don´t care if we stay home all week just as long as I´m with you´....you know....and uh....you tell ´em that you love ´em and they tell you that you probably said that to your other girlfriends and you wanna be truthful so you say ´Yeah I did but this time I really mean it´ (chuckles)....and the girls, you know, they´re putting that perfume in all ´em other places besides behind their ears and stuff (chuckles)...(?)...but then if you come back sometimes like a year later or something, you know it´s like, uh, ´Are we going out tonight or do I have to sit around here and look at your face all night long ?´....you know, and uh....´Are you gonna make love to me tonight or are we gonna have to wait for the full moon again ?´....love is fleeting, I don´t know, why is that ?....I don´t know...anyway, it all kind of comes down to sometimes, let me see....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´I´m Goin´Down´**

´´Man, I gotta take a rest, you know...like, oh yeah....I´m 35, I´m almost 36 now....I gotta take these little breathers....I´m getting up there in years....I don´t know....now Clarence, he´s, uh...that guy, man, he´s 44....I don´t know how he does it, somehow he always maintains his youthful beauty....he´s got some kind of beauty cream or something, I don´t know....anyway, sometimes, man, my back hurts and like, you know, when I´m laying in bed at night, you know....yeah, like, see I always, I always sleep with my guitar...at first, uh, my wife didn´t like it but she got used to it....you gotta take the whole package, you know (chuckles)....anyway, this is a song about time´s winged chariot, anybody my age out there tonight ? (cheers)...this is for all you old timers, alright ? (chuckles)....this is ´cause in the end ...it all don´t amount to nothing but glory days....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´Gonna do this....for my Mom and Pop....oh, this is for you guys, this is....no matter how old you get, you gotta keep searching for that Promised Land....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´The Promised Land´**

´´Thanks....yeah....I always....remember when I was growing up....I used to kind of have a.... I guess, kind of a love-hate-relationship with the place that I was born....I guess when I was around 17 or 18, it was about 95 percent hate (chuckles)....you know how it is, you´re always...it was a small town, real small-minded....wasn´t much room to breathe in....I remember thinking when I got older I couldn´t wait till I got out of there....and I was lucky in that I did....but after a while I found out that when I got out, for some reason, I always kept going back....and uh, I guess that´s ´cause the place that you´re born and raised always stays in your blood, never leaves you no matter where you go or what you become....and uh, I think when I was young, I was afraid of belonging to something...that would mean then you´d have some, you belong to something means you got some sort of responsobility....I guess every place we´ve gone on this tour, it´s funny ´cause like whenever I mention the name of that place, people always cheer....we´ll try it out....Oakland (cheers)....San Francisco (cheers)....see that works, that works every time (chuckles) no matter where you go....and I got to thinking about it, I figured ´Well, that must mean that people, people must be proud of where they come from´....and if they are....if they are proud of where they come from, it would make sense that they´d wanna do something to make that place a better place to live ....and tonight in the audience we´ve got some representatives from the San Francisco Foodbank....and the (?) County Foodbank....and they´re representing foodbanks from (?) County, (?) County, San Mateo and Santa Clara County....and what a foodbank is is every year 20 percent of all the food that gets produced in the United States ends up getting wasted or thrown away, meanwhile in every city and in every town, there´s old folks whose social security checks don´t get ´em through the month, who gotta decide between buying themselves medicine and food, there´s single mothers trying to raise their children on their own, there´s folks that been hit hard by unemployment, there´s young kids that ain´t getting the right nutritious kind of food....meanwhile in one of the richest countries in the world, there´s 33 million people living at or below poverty line....that´s really a shame on all of us and that´s something, I think, we all ought to feel that we got a responsobility to do something about....because it doesn´t have to be that way, we just got used to it....with the cutbacks in social spending....and with the cost of living always on the rise, there´s a lot of people that ain´t making it, that ain´t getting caught in the safety net, they´re falling straight to the bottom and they need a hand....if you believe in America, in which every man and every woman has a place....these guys are out there every day trying to do something about it.... they´re making some of these ideas that I´m singing about up here tonight real every day in people´s lives....and without them what I´m doing up here is a bunch of words so...if you got some time to volunteer, I don´t need to tell you they need some volunteers, San Francisco Foodbank needs a truck and they all need financial support, they´re here in your hometown trying to make it a better and a more decent place to live for all of its citizens so give ´em hand, alright ?....you can get the phonenumbers of these organizations out in the lobby tonight, their phonenumbers will be out there at the concession stands...so see if you can do something for your hometown....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´My Hometown´**

´´I always remember growing up, my folks having to work so hard.... (?) my mom had to go down to the finance man ....and borrow money... for Christmas....getting it paid back just in time to borrow money for Easter...getting it paid back....just in time to borrow money for school clothes....always and always....for some reason she never acted like it ever bothered her...but I can remember laying in my room....feeling like....something inside me was dying ....and that if something didn´t change....if something didn´t happen....feeling like I was gonna...feeling like if something didn´t change....someday I was just gonna....I was just gonna...feeling like I was just gonna....like I´d just....like I´d just....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´I´m on Fire´**

´´Temptation !...do you know what I´m talking about ? (cheers)....good, because this is a song about temptation....it´s about conflict....between worldly things and spiritual health.... conflict between desires of the flesh, and I´m talking about sexual desire....and spiritual ecstasy....that´s right....and where did that conflict begin ? ....I´m gonna tell you....it began in the Garden of Eden....have you heard about it ? (cheers)....I´d like to introduce one of the world´s.....most well-known biblical scholars ....to help me out....with this sermon....this is ´Handsome´ Jim McDuffy, ladies and gentlemen....now, what we have here is Mesopotamia ....that where the original location of the Garden of Eden was supposed to be, somewhere in here....but the latest theological studies have found out that its actual location was....that´s right, ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike....and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why they call it the Garden State ! ....but now, in the Garden of Eden, there were none of the accoutrements of modern living....oh no, you didn´t have no Laundromats, you couldn´t go home at night, make yourself a ham-and-cheese sandwich, jump in the sack with your baby and watch David Letterman ....no !....you couldn´t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one....no, Sir !....in the Garden of Eden there was no sin....there was no sex....man lived in a state of innocence.....now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in....but let me tell you in the Garden of Eden there were many wonderous things : there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, got everybody in trouble....there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve and she looked so fine and when Adam kissed her, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman..... and she had legs that were long and soft to the touch....and when Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman....and then she touched him.....and it was the first time that a woman had ever touched a man.....and he snuggled up real close to her and he said ´Ooh, I love you, Evie´....and they went walking out into the green fields and they lay down....and when Adam.... well, let´s just say it was the first time for that too....but there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day, old Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their sweet love into a betrayal and sent them driving down into the darkness below....but that´s alright because right here tonight on this backlot, for 99.95 and no money down, don´t worry if you´ve got bad credit, it´s good here, we´ll finance, we´ll take a chance on you....I´ve got the keys to their getaway car....and if you´ve got the nerve to ride....I´ve got the first....pink... Cadillac ...”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´**

´´Thanks, thanks a lot....here´s uh....I´d like to just take a minute and thank everybody for coming down to the show tonight....and, and I´d....like to do a song for youse, uh.... guess I´d like to do this once again for the folks, they don´t get to come out and see me that much....so ....I´m on my best behavior....and for my in-laws...yeah....but uh, this is a song ....I guess it´s about the greatest song ever written....about America.....and uh.... it´s by Woody Guthrie and I guess....what´s so great about it is....it gets right to the heart....of the promise of what our country was supposed to be about....and as we sit here tonight, that´s a promise....that is eroding every day for many of our fellow.... fellow citizens....I don´t think that if you talk to ....the steelworkers from (?) Valley, I don´t think they believe that this song is true any more ....uh.....I don´t know if it is.... but I know that it ought to be .... and I´d like to do this for youse wishing you all the longest life and the best of everything and reminding you that with countries, just like with people, it´s easy to let the best of yourself slip away....”
 * 18.09.85 Oakland, CA, intro to ´This land is your land’**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//